


Escape the Night: Mannequins

by Dede42



Series: Escape the Night Season 1 [5]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: 1920s, Artifacts, False Accusations, Haunted House, Hidden Room, Murder Journal, Murder Mystery, Novelization, Perverse Games, Serial Killer, Spin the Bottle, car, cherry pie, mannequins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-04-12 09:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19129579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dede42/pseuds/Dede42
Summary: The group find a hidden room filled with macabre mannequin, and perverted games must be played in order to find the third artifact. Who will have to take part on the perverted games, and who will survive?





	1. PROLOGUE: A SICKO’S MIND AT WORK

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! Now, I was going to wait until tomorrow, but with all of the excitement for Season 4, I decided to start posting the next episode today and I will upload the next part tomorrow.

**PROLOGUE: A SICKO’S MIND AT WORK**

 

*****

 

In a nice suburban house, a man with short dark hair, a smile that was borderline manic, and wearing a red sweater over a white shirt with a black tie, black pants, and black shoes, calmly went to a table that had a collection of knifes on it.

 

He picked one up and ran his finger along the edge, while behind him, there were muffled sobs.

 

“It won't be much longer, children,” he said reassuringly, turning to a dining that was set for dinner, and tied to five of the chairs was the family: husband on one end, the three children (all girls) on the side, and on the other end was the wife. They were all tied to the chairs with gags in their mouths, and they were all trying to plead for their lives through the gags. “I promise.”

 

He walked over to the table and paused next to the father. “I am a perfectionist Henry, of the most sincere type,” he explained and walked past the children, pausing to touch the hair of the oldest daughter, who’d been dating him until that very night when the truth came out. “And what I'm doing tonight will make this ugly world a little more refined and dignified.” And the daughter tried to pull her head away from his touch, which wasn’t easy with the ropes keeping her tied to the chair.

 

He then went to the wife and ripped her blouse open, admiring her exposed chest. “Oh they are _so_ lovely,” he complimented, glancing over at Henry, who had a pleading expression on his face. “It is hard to imagine that they could be improved upon. But I will try.”

 

His expression then turned cold as he raised the knife, ignoring the muffled screams as he plunged it toward the wife’s chest.

 

*****

 

Sometime later, the man was seated in a room of the infamous house that had a long table with a dinner set up on it, and three of the chairs already had mannequins in them, made to look like the members of the family he’d murdered.

 

Right now, he was applying red lipstick to the mother mannequin, which already had a blonde wig on the head.

 

The mysterious figure walked into the room and it watched its’ employee work. It had searched long and hard for this particular person, and it was impressed by the man’s work.  _‘I have chosen_ well _, with this one.’_

 

“This is how a perfect act can last forever,” the serial killer stated, glancing over at his employer for a moment before focusing on the mannequin.

 

 _`“Your art holds no equal,”`_ the mysterious figure stated, and it did sound impress through its’ creepy mask.

 

The serial killer beamed. “You should see what I've done with the decorations upstairs,” he added, and once he finished applying the lipstick to the mannequin, he placed her at the table, and then he lead his employer upstairs to see the other room he’d _decorated_.

 

While most considered what he did as sick and evil, he saw it as art, and as a way to improve the human form.

 

When he was first approached by the mysterious figure, he’d been close to being captured by the police, but the figure had helped him escape, and had paid him generously to do some of his _art_ for the house. He’d been over the moon and he was certain that he would do a great many more artwork for his employer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Calvin is DEFNITELY a serial killer. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	2. CHAPTER ONE: BLAME AND CLUES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! Now I had intended to post this sooner, but I had work with my client at my other job, a bunch of other real life stuff, and I'm sure that you get the idea. Anyway, time to get the first chapter of this episode up and going. Onward!

**CHAPTER ONE: BLAME AND CLUES**

 

*****

 

In the library of the house, the group was huddled together to an extent, and they were dealing with the latest vote that had resulted in Justine being buried alive in a coffin in order to get the second artifact that was on the mantle in the living room. They had also gotten a small wooden box that seemed to be made out of solid wood, but every time one of them shook it, they could hear something rattling inside.

 

Matt glanced over at Joey and Dawn, who were standing behind Benny, who was seated at the table with him, Sierra, Lele, and GloZell, and he could see that they were still hurting from seeing one of their friends being buried alive.  _‘I can’t blame them,’_ he thought, _‘they, along with Benny and I, promised Justine that_ nothing  _would happen to her, and then she got buried alive despite our best efforts.’_

 

“Guys…I mean…we just killed Justine,” he said, breaking the silence and addressing the elephant in the room. “We buried her _alive_.”

 

GloZell was staring at the tabletop, using her palms to tap out a rhythm on the smooth surface. She did feel a bit guilty for voting for Justine, but the way that the blonde girl had been acting when they found the coffin, it’d been sketchy, and she’d agreed with Tim that Justine had been responsible for Andrea’s death earlier.

 

 _‘And I’m now certain about_ who _is working for the evil,’_ GloZell thought, and she looked up to glare at Joey and Dawn. “We buried Justine," she snapped, "but you _both_ were acting like you were just so sad, and I just don't believe that you were really so sad. I didn't buy the act at all, _Joey_.  _Dawn._ ”

 

Joey and Dawn both stared at her incredulously. “You didn’t buy _our_ act?”

 

“No, not at all,” GloZell retorted and she began acting like them both. “Oh, you know, this my friend…”

 

“She  _was_ our friend!” Dawn snapped. “And I seem to recall both you _and_ Bart holding Joey and I back when we tried to save Justine from that damn coffin!”

 

This shut GloZell up, and the others were staring at the actress with stunned expression. Even Joey was a bit surprised since it was rare for Dawn to swear, even a mild swear word like that.

 

“You heard me right, _GloZell_ ,” Dawn growled, her face going red with anger, for she had had _enough_ of being blamed for something that she and Joey had _nothing_ to do with. “I’ve had it up to _here_ with you accusing Joey and I for being in league with the evil that’s inside this infernal house, and I’m saying here and now that there is _no way_ that either of us would _ever_ side with a freaking demon! So just stop it, stop it, _stop it!_ ”

 

For the first time in her life, GloZell was at lost for words, and a different kind of silence fell over the group. This was the first time she’d ever seen the SciFi actress ever lose her temper when she wasn’t in character on a TV show or even a movie, and she had to admit that the Mormon girl was scary when she was angry.  _‘Of course some of her relatives are from the Deep South and she certainly has the Southern temper.’_

 

 _‘Wow, note to self, never make Dawn angry,’_ Matt thought as Joey quietly spoke to the red-faced girl while putting an arm around her shoulders, and she nodded while taking a shuddering breath to calm herself down. Deciding to change the subject, he picked up the box. “Can we just figure out the box?” he suggested.

 

“Ok,” Joey agreed once he was certain that his friend wouldn’t lose her temper again, and he was impressed that she hadn’t blown up before now, but GloZell had crossed a line with accusing them like that. “Let’s figure out the box.”

 

Matt put the box down in the center of the table and shook his head, wishing that things were different. “We have killed _so_ many people already.”

 

“Technically we've only killed two,” Joey pointed out.

 

Matt opened his mouth to correct him and then changed his mind, not wanting to think of how Shane died, and he picked the box up again, trying to figure out how to open it. “My only question is, what's going on in here?” he wondered, shaking it and whatever was inside it, rattled.

 

“No idea.”

 

Sierra took it from him and shook it, too. “It's just a piece of wood!" she complains, trying and failing to find a way to open it. _"Literally_ nothing in it!”

 

Oli surprised everyone by grabbing the box from Sierra’s hands, and he smashed it against the table, making them all jump and yelp. He smashed it against the table a second time and it shattered into pieces, revealing a strip of paper. “There, _that’s_ how you open it.”

 

 _‘Talk about going into Hulk mode,’_ Dawn thought, a little spooked, but she had been feeling the same way, and she’d verbally taken it out on GloZell, revealing a side of her that she didn’t like to show.

 

Joey picked up the paper and there was only one word on it. “‘IDLE’.”

 

“Idol?” GloZell asked and she would’ve started singing, but Dawn corrected her.

 

“Not ‘idol’, it’s ‘idle’,” said the actress. “I-d-l-e.”

 

GloZell flushed. “Oh.”

 

“Idle is like when something is running on and on, right?” Eva suggested, thinking. “So maybe we need to turn something off.”

 

“Or maybe we need to turn it back on so it's up and running," Matt suggested. "It might be idle right now.”

 

Lele scoffed. “Or  _maybe_ they're just letters to a code!”

 

“Let's just _kill_ somebody,” Tim blurted out and winced when Benny smacked the back of his head. “Ow! Sorry, sorry, wrong choice of words, sorry!”

 

Matt went to one of the book shelves and picked up a peacock feather. “I still think this peacock flower is gonna come in handy," he remarked and earned several eye rolls at his word goof since it was a feather and not a flower.

 

Oli, however, was examining a clock on the fireplace mantle. “Wait. Does  _this_ mean anything?” he asked and they gathered around, all except for GloZell, who remained seated at the table.

 

Eva examined the clock and saw that its’ clock hands were frozen in place. There was also a bronze plaque under it, and both she and Joey read what was written on it. “‘Letters become numbers and numbers become letters’.”

 

“That’s weird.”

 

“The time!" Joey pointed at the hands. "The time is stopped because it's idle! The time is idle!”

 

“Joey, you are a _genius_!” Matt exclaimed.

 

GloZell snorted. “ _Or_ he could be the demon.” And she was disappointed when Joey didn’t react.

 

“Or he knew,” Sierra muttered.

 

Joey ignored them both, for his focus was on the clock, which had a bunch of knobs for some reason. “Wait,” he said, frowning as he fiddled with the knobs. “There are so many knobs. What are those?”

 

“Can you put each hand on a letter?” GloZell suggested.

 

Dawn took a closer look at the clock and saw that there were four hands instead of three hands. “Wait, there’s four hands on this clock.”

 

“Idle,” Eva said, figuring it out. “There's four letters. Four numbers. Each letter corresponds to a number." She was talking so fast, she could feel her lungs working overtime just to keep up. "The clock. We have to use the-” she cut herself off.

 

“Let's count it in the alphabet,” Matt suggested, picking up where she left off. “I is…" He counted out the alphabet on his fingers. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I…I is nine.”

 

“Yeah!” Tim exclaimed. “And we have four hands!”

 

Matt nodded and turned to the clock. “So, set it to that time.” And with Eva and Sierra’s help, they put the four hands on the numbers 9, 4, 12, and 5. Moments later, there was a crashing sound that scared them all, GloZell almost fell out of her chair, and they turned to see that at least six books had fallen off one of the bookshelves.

 

“Oh, geez,” Dawn groaned, clinging to Joey’s arm once again. “Freaking  _jump scares_.”

 

“Oh, lord,” GloZell moaned, one hand on her chest since her heart was racing. “I think I peed myself.”

 

They went to the bookshelf, where Arthur was already standing, and they found that there was a keyhole in the space where the books had been. Above the keyhole was the symbol for the Society Against Evil.

 

Matt searched among the fallen books and he found a photo, which he handed to Joey and Dawn, and the group gathered around to take a look. It was a photo of the foyer of the house itself. “We should go out there and take a look.”

 

Agreeing, Joey and Dawn lead the way to the foyer. Sierra was about to follow when Tim grabbed her arm.

 

“Hey, wait, Sierra,” he said, pulling her toward the window, where he’d noticed something earlier.

 

“Why are we going to the window?” Sierra asked with an awkward smile.

 

Tim pointed to something that was outside. “Look, look right there.”

 

Sierra peered out the window and she nearly gasped when she saw parked a short distance away a white 1920s automobile, which was nearly identical to the car that’d blown up earlier that same night, and she was pretty sure that it hadn’t been there before.

 

“Maybe we should check it out,” Tim suggested with a sly smile.

 

Sierra shook her head, not liking that idea. “I don't think we should separate." Although she thought it was a bad idea, she did long for an escape route. "It's never a good idea to separate. I'm just saying.”

 

“Let's let them look for the key," Tim insisted, itching to go outside and get to that car, which he was sure would be their way to freedom, "and we can just go check it out real quick.”

 

Sierra started to shake her head again, but she was also curious about the car, so she reluctantly agreed, and she followed him out the front door without anyone else noticing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sneaking off to check out a strange car? After everything that's happen so far, I wouldn't do that for all of the money in the world.
> 
> I will see you all on Monday with the next chapter. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	3. CHAPTER TWO: KEY TO A SCARY ROOM PART ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! And if I counted right, just 32 days until the Season 4 premiere of the All-Star season!
> 
> Right now, it's time to see if our favorite YouTubers can find the key to unlock whatever is behind that wall, and see what Tim and Sierra are up to as well. Onward!

**CHAPTER TWO: KEY TO A SCARY ROOM PART ONE**

 

*****

 

Unaware that Tim and Sierra had snuck outside, the rest of the group was in the foyer, comparing the photo to the staircase that spiraled upward. Joey and Dawn were looking between the photo and the actual scene, and they both were positive that there was something different between the photo and the actual location.

 

“Can I see the picture real quick?” Matt asked, taking the photo from Joey to look at it.

 

Joey nodded distractedly and went to examine the stairs themselves, and Dawn moved forward to help. There was something off about the photo and the actual stairs that they’d been going up and down for weeks. “Maybe we can feel for, like, trapdoors or something…”

 

“It’s so black,” Lele remarked, staring at the photo, which was black, except that it seemed to have been blended with a shade of chestnut brown in order to create an almost _chilling_ color. There was a painting on the wall, and the entire staircase looks like a spiral road to nowhere.

 

Oli stood next to Matt, trying to examine the room, but everything here seemed to be in order. Nothing struck him as particularly suspicious.

 

“I've been looking long and hard-” Matt began.

 

“Wait,” said Joey, finding a piece of wood that was lodged in the bannister, which hadn’t been there before, and he poked at it until it fell out to the floor, startling the others.

 

“Oh my gosh!” Eva exclaimed.

 

Dawn picked up the piece of wood and she pulled out a key. “Here’s the key,” she said, handing it to Joey, and they both headed back to the library.

 

*****

 

Joey and Dawn returned to the library with the others following, and they went to the bookcase with the keyhole.

 

“I’m scared,” Eva muttered, feeling uneasy as Joey got ready to use the key. “I don’t want to do this.”

 

Joey inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it. There was a clicking noise and a hidden door opened. Arthur pushed it open and the group hesitantly entered a secret dining room, where they gasped when they saw that it was dimly lit with both food and place settings on the table. And sitting around the table were four of the _creepiest_ mannequins they’d ever seen.

 

“Ok,  _why_ is there a hidden room in this house?” Dawn wondered. “And I swear that if these are actually Autons, I’m _outta_ here!”

 

This got some nervous chuckles out of the group and it was then that Matt realized that someone was missing from the group. “Where’s Tim?”

 

 _‘Uh oh,’_ Joey thought, realizing that Matt was right and Tim _was_ missing. “Where’d he go?” he wondered.

 

“Tim,” GloZell said hesitantly. “Tim is with that other chick. Sierra.”

 

“Not again,” Dawn groaned. “This _isn’t_ the best time to sneak off.”

 

*****

 

Tim and Sierra made their ways down the front stairs and made their way to the car. He was eager to get to the car and get out of there.

 

“I just feel like…maybe…”

 

Sierra stopped him. “Don’t get too close,” she warned. “It might explode!”

 

Tim wasn’t so sure about that. “What if this is, like, the key to getting us home right now?” he wondered and went to the driver’s side. He tried the door, but it was locked. “Crap.”

 

“It’s  _locked_ ,” said Sierra, who _really_ wanted to go back inside the house and rejoin the group. “Are you  _kidding_ me?”

 

Tim examined the door and saw that one of the windows was busted, so he was able to reach inside and unlock the door. “Ok. Here we go.”

 

“Open it! Open it!” Sierra cheered.

 

Tim beamed as he unlocked the door and opened it. “Ladies, first.”

 

Sierra hesitated, glancing back at the house. “Do we get in?” she asked uneasily. “Like…We can't leave them!”

 

“Do you _really_ like them?" Tim asked.

 

Sierra shrugged. “I like _some_ of them!”

 

“We won’t leave them,” Tim promised. “Just get in.”

 

Sighing, Sierra got into the car, bumping her tiara in the process. “Ow, my crown!”

 

Tim snickered as he climbed in after her. _‘I won’t leave the others here to die,’_ he thought,  _‘but if this car_ can _get us out of here, then I’ll do the driving once we have the car keys.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A hidden dining room with creepy mannequins? I admit it that the second I saw those mannequins the first time, I was immediately thinking of the Autons, killer plastic mannequins, from Doctor Who, and I kept expecting them to start moving on their own.
> 
> Hmm, do you think anyone can use that car to leave? Or is there something else about that car that will help them find the next artifact? I guess you'll just have to wait until the next update. So, I don't really know when I'll get to update next since I have work at the movie theater tomorrow morning and Thursday morning, and I will be babysitting my nephews on Wednesday.
> 
> Basically, there might be a gap of time before I can post again, but you'll know when I have the next chapter up, and I'm sure that it'll be worth the wait. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	4. CHAPTER THREE: KEY TO A SCARY ROOM PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! Yes, I'm finally updating after so long and I've been desperate to do this as I have been busy at the movie theater on Tuesday and Thursday, and I was babysitting my nephews yesterday, too.  
> I will be updating again tomorrow and Saturday, too, and then I will be back to normally updating next week…I hope. Onward!

**CHAPTER THREE: KEY TO A SCARY ROOM PART TWO**

 

*****

 

Deciding to worry about Tim and Sierra later, the group focused on the disturbing room instead: there were four mannequins seated around the table, a grownup male, two small females, and a grownup female seated opposite the male.

 

“Here’s another clue.” Matt saw a paper on the tale and he picked it up, reading aloud the contents. “‘My dear employer, how grateful I am for your generosity in seeking out my work. Few understand its true importance, and to that end, I must be absent for a time. The need inside me requires that I feed it regularly. This piece is almost complete, and I will be calling it "Dinner for Five." I'm sure that with some careful examination you will see how to finalize the details. Warm regards, Calvin’.”

 

“Sounds like a serial killer,” Dawn guessed, making a face. “Only someone _that_ mentally disturbed would do something like this.”

 

Joey took the note from Matt and reread a section of it. “‘The need inside me requires that I feed it regularly…'" he repeated, frowning. "Do we have to feed the mannequins?”

 

Oli, however, gestured to a nearby cherry pie. “Do you think that something is in here?”

 

“You  _could_ give it a peek,” Matt suggested.

 

Picking up a fork, Oli used it to poke around the inside of the pie until he found something that wasn’t a cherry, and he picked it up with his fingers. “What’s this?”

 

“Ew!” said Joey, grimacing at the object. “What _is_ that?”

 

Oli realized that he was holding some kind of body part and he immediately dropped it. “Ugh!”

 

“I am _never_ eating cherry pie again,” Dawn vowed, shuddering.

 

“Ergh," Lele moaned. "Oli, what the _hell_?”

 

Matt moved around the table and picked the object up, wiping off the cherry filling. “Is it a mannequin thumb or a human thumb?” he wondered as Oli took it back.

 

“It's a mannequin's thumb,” said Oli, relieved that it was fake and not real.

 

Eva pointed at the male mannequin. “Is he missing a thumb?”

 

Oli checked the mannequin and shook his head since it had both thumbs. “No, he’s not.”

 

“Maybe it's not a thumb," Matt suggested, leaning against an empty chair. "Maybe it's some other body part, like, I don't know…”

 

“A toe,” Joey suggested, “check his feet.”

 

Oli bent down to check the mannequin’s feet while Lele made a face and kept saying “No”.

 

*****

 

Meanwhile in the car, Tim and Sierra were still searching for the key, and so far they weren’t having any luck in finding it. After failing to find the key, they decided to look for the symbol instead, and they weren’t finding it either.

 

“Is there, like, a symbol here somewhere?” Tim wondered and pointed to the glove compartment that was in front of Sierra. “Check the glove compartment.”

 

Sierra opened the compartment and found two pieces of paper and a small photo, which she took out. They examined them, and found a single sentence. “‘Slow down’?”

 

Tim was examining the photo and saw a familiar symbol on one of the papers. “Oh, it’s the symbol!” He then looked at the photo again. “Who _is_ this guy? He's creepy looking.” He looked at the note again. “Slow down? What does that mean?”

 

“I don’t know,” Sierra admitted with a shrug.

 

“Slow down,” Tim repeated, thinking for a moment. “We’re in a car. Maybe…” He then pumped the brakes, and when nothing happen, he felt under the dashboard until he managed to find a key. Feeling hopeful, he tried it in the ignition and turned it. But nothing happen, and he sighed, frustrated.

 

“I don’t think it’s gonna work,” Sierra remarked, having come to the conclusion that they couldn’t use the car to get back to 2016.

 

“It  _has_ to,” Tim insisted. “It’s part of the clue.” He tried getting the engine going again, and when it didn’t work, he took the key out and figured it had to go to a different part of the car. “Well, maybe there’s a clue in the trunk.”

 

They got out of the car, circled it until they were both facing the trunk, and Tim tried the key. It unlocked the trunk and he was about to open it when Sierra protested with a panicked expression on her face. “I don’t wanna look in the trunk.”

 

“We have to,” Tim insisted and he proceeded to open the trunk.

 

*****

 

Back in the dining room, Oli got one of the shoes off the male mannequin and found a that the plastic toe did go there, and there was a note in the shoe. Retrieving the note, he straightened up and read it. “‘I thought my wife was a saint, and then Calvin showed me the hole in her soul…before I pried a lung from her chest’.”

 

Joey pointed to the female mannequin that was in front of GloZell. “Her. Her. Woman.”

 

Eva opened the blouse and found a hole in the chest. Feeling uneasy, she carefully extracted the next clue out of the hole, and she read it. “‘Mothers should know what's in their child's head. Then he cut one open to show me. I can never look at my children again’.”

 

Making a face, Dawn helped remove the wigs from the children mannequins, but neither of them had a hole in their heads. “Uh, there’s nothing here.”

 

“Okay, wait,” Joey said, frowning. "Repeat it again.” He turned to Eva, who was about to read the clue again, when he noticed that there was drawer on a small set of drawers on a nearby table that hadn’t been open before. “Wait!” He went to it. “This is open! Was this always open?” he asked.

 

“No, it wasn’t,” said Dawn, joining him and so did the rest of the group.

 

Joey reached into the drawer and took out a photograph, which he looked at, and he gasped, an expression of sorrow and grief etching itself across his face as he showed it to the group. “There’s a picture.”

 

“This is sad,” said Dawn when she saw the photo.

 

“Oh  _no_ ,” Eva moaned when she saw that it was a photo of a family. “A family, maybe?”

 

And it _was_ a family that consisted of a father, a mother, and three small children. They were seating all in a row at a dinner table that was identical to the one that the mannequins were currently seated at.

 

Uneasy, the group turned to the table and they realized that there were only four mannequins were seated at the table, but there were five family members in the photograph. One of the mannequins was missing.

 

Where was the missing mannequin?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four creepy mannequins and one is missing. Where could it be and what will Tim and Sierra find in the trunk of the car? You'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	5. CHAPTER FOUR: FREAKY FAMILY REUNION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! Sorry, I had intended to post sooner, but I had to take my client to her doctor's appointment, and it took a bit longer then planned. Nothing to worry about, it was just a routine checkup.  
> Anyway, time to move forward with this story. Onward!

**CHAPTER FOUR: FREAKY FAMILY REUNION**

 

*****

 

Sierra felt like running when Tim opened the trunk, and they both gasped when they saw a gagged and bound figure sitting in the back of the trunk. “OMG!” Finding a flashlight, Tim aimed it at the figure and discovered that it was a gagged and bound mannequin with a dark-colored wig on her head, a terrified expression on her plastic face, and she was wearing a white dress.

 

“Is that _actual_ a dead body?” Sierra asked uneasily.

 

“No,” Tim assured her. “It's, like, a mannequin lady.” He searched the trunk, but there was nothing else in there, not even a key to make the car run.  _‘Dang it!’_ “All right,” he said with a disappointed sigh. “We should tell the others. I'm gonna grab her.”

 

Sierra stared at him like he’d gone nuts. “ _What?_ Why?”

 

“So they’ll believe us,” Tim retorted.

 

“Omigod." Sierra rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?”

 

“Yeah,” said Tim and he reached into the trunk, where he managed to tug the mannequin forward until he could lift it out of the trunk, finding a paper in the process, which he also took, and he carried it back toward the house with Sierra hesitantly following him.

 

*****

 

“Ok, we’ve searched this _entire_ room, and there is no other mannequin,” Benny reported. “Where did this Calvin guy hide it?”

 

Just then, Tim and Sierra arrived, and he was carrying the mannequin that they’d been searching for.

 

“We found some crazy stuff,” Tim announced, hefting the mannequin off his shoulder.

 

“Yeah,  _we_ found some crazy stuff, too,” Oli retorted.

 

Matt pointed at the mannequin. “We've been looking for the girl!”

 

“She was tied up in the car outside,” Sierra informed them.

 

“Listen up, you guys!" Tim shouted, holding up a piece of paper. "There's a note!”

 

Dawn took the note from him and she began reading it. “‘All my life, I wanted to go to a dance. Nothing fancy – I just wanted a boy to ask me. Then Calvin came along…only it turns out dancing isn't what he had in mind at all’.” Her face went pale. “Oh lordy – I think I need to sit down.” And she sank into an empty chair that wasn’t at the table. “This nut is _definitely_ a serial killer.”

 

“Okay,” Joey said while putting a hand on Dawn’s shoulder, and she covered his hand with her own. "Calvin is some sort of psychopath who set this whole room up.  _That's_ who Calvin is. What do we have to do?”

 

Matt picked up the photo that had been placed on the table. “I think we need to put them in the proper order like in this photo,” he suggested.

 

The group worked quickly to rearrange the five mannequins so that they were seated in the proper order at the table, and it didn’t take very long.

 

“She looks like the _Grudge_ or something!” Joey snickered, pointing to the smallest mannequin child, who’d gotten her head in the mashed potatoes.

 

Dawn rolled her eyes and jumped when another drawer opened. “Yikes! What is it with all the jump scares around here?”

 

Joey reached into the newly opened drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. “Another clue, guys,” he said and he began reading it. “‘My employer, I have hidden the artifact given to me, as you requested, in my new art installation on the second floor. I'm afraid it can only be experienced by three guests selected by a vote. They should be prepared to play…perverse games’.”

 

The whole group groaned and grimaced at the thought of having to play perverse games. And they exited the room since it was clear that they were going to have to vote for someone to take part in the perverse games that were ahead of them.

 

*****

 

Once they were all in the living room once again, Arthur stood behind the table with the hat, the paper, and the pen. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, picking up the hat. “We've decided to put it to a vote to see who will go upstairs and play a perverse game.”

 

“Are these games gonna be fun?” Tim wondered.

 

“I doubt it,” Bart muttered.

 

Matt did a quick head count. “Six guys. Five girls.” And he gestured at Joey, Tim, Benny, Bart, and Oli to follow him out of the room. Oli was about to follow, but he chose to remain with the girls.

 

“I’m gonna stay here,” he informed the girls, sitting with them. “Matt has been acting…strange.” And it wasn’t a surprise when Lele agreed with him so quickly.

 

*****

 

In the hallway, Matt began talking about Lele, and it took a lot of self control on the part of Joey, Tim, Benny, and Bart not to roll their eyes, having heard this before.

 

“Lele is killing people off,” he insisted. “She needs to go.”

 

Joey nodded, especially since he was glad that they weren’t suggesting that they vote for Dawn, who he knew would much rather be locked in a room full of balloons then take part in perverse games. “I am down.”

 

“So, we vote for Lele,” said Bart, “but who should go in with her? Oli? One of the other girls? Remember, we have to vote for three people this time.” And they had a quick debate about who else to vote for.

 

What the guys didn’t know, Bart was already planning on voting for a certain Mormon girl, who he was sure was behind all of this.  _‘And I hope that GloZell votes for Joey, for I’m sure that he’s with the evil, too.’_

 

*****

 

“They're talking crap about us right now!" Sierra complained.

 

“Not necessarily, Sierra,” Dawn informed her. “This isn’t an easy decision to make. Remember, whoever takes part in these games, only one or two may come back alive.”

 

Eva decided to sneak across the floor by rolling, and listened in the guys, who were arguing about who to vote for, hearing Lele’s name several times, and when Matt noticed her, she sheepishly waved and hurried back to the other girls and Oli. “Matt is _really_ wanting to vote you into the challenge, Lele,” she informed the blonde.

 

Lele rolled her eyes, unsurprised. “ _Of course_ he does.”

 

When the guys came back into the living room, they rearranged themselves on the couches and chairs, and they all looked at Arthur.

 

“Lele.” The butler nodded to the blonde. “You may go first.”

 

“After you,” Matt sneered.

 

Lele shot him a look before standing up and went to the table. She took one of the pieces of papers, picked up the pen, and she surprised everyone by saying the name of the person she was voting for as she wrote the name down. “Matt.”

 

While some of the others snickered, Matt shrugged good naturally. “That’s fine.”

 

After Lele dropped the paper into the hat, the others took their turns in writing down the name of the person that they were voting for, and when Tim was taking his turn, Joey looked over at GloZell.

 

“I hope that you're still not…thinking-” he began.

 

“It's  _your_ house," GloZell interrupted. "You and Dawn both _have_ to know what your servants are doing.”

 

Joey bristled. “Remember what I said? It's not my-”

 

“Who you gettin' loud with?" GloZell demanded.

 

"Because!" Joey snapped. "I've already told you! I don't own this house! Just to squash this right now, do you all blame Dawn and I for everything that's going on?”

 

While GloZell and Bart said yes, the others all said no at the same time.

 

“Joey," Arthur said, cutting off the arguing, "it's your turn.”

 

Joey got up and walked to the table as GloZell muttered about how he better not write her name down. He _was_ tempted to do just that, but he didn’t, and he wrote a different name instead, putting it into the hat and returned to his place on the couch with Dawn and Sierra.

 

Once the last of the votes were in the hat, Arthur shook it, and took out a piece of paper. He glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and then read the name aloud. “The first person to go into the challenge…is Joey.”

 

“ _What?_ ” Joey asked, shocked that he’d been put into the vote. “ _Who put me in there?!_ ”

 

Arthur shook the hat a second time and drew out another paper. He glanced at it, raised his eyebrows once again, and then read the name aloud. “The second person to go into the challenge… is Dawn.”

 

“ _Me?!_ ” Dawn yelped, alarmed. “I don’t _want_ to play perverse games!” And many in the group were also surprised that someone had voted for the actress to go into a challenge involving perverse games.

 

Joey was shocked that his best friend had been voted into the challenge and as he looked at the others in the group, he noted that Bart was fighting back a smug look.  _‘He’s had it in for Dawn from the start, I bet_ he  _voted for her.’_

 

Arthur, however, shook the hat a third time, and he drew the third name. “The third person to go into the challenge…is Lele.”

 

“What… _again?_ ” Lele asked, surprised, but when she heard Matt remarked that it was bound to happen, she glared at him.

 

Arthur set the hat down and gestured to Joey, Dawn, and Lele. “Joey, Dawn, Lele, if I could have you come with me…”

 

They stood up and while Joey and Dawn had terrified expressions on their faces, Lele had an angry expression on her face, and they followed the butler out of the room with the others calling out “Good luck” to them.

 

The moment they had disappeared up the stairs, Oli looked round the group and asked the question that was on his mind. “Who voted for Joey and Dawn?”

 

Both GloZell and Bart cracked up, and they received shocked looks from the others. _They_ had voted for Joey and Dawn respectively.

 

“It was _you two?_ ” Benny asked, shocked. “You both _actually_ sent Joey and Dawn into a challenge that requires them to play  _perverse games?_ ”

 

Bart snickered. “No one can stay pure forever, Benny.”

 

GloZell was pleased with herself. “ _I_ voted for Joey.”

 

The group was stunned. They couldn’t believe that GloZell and Bart would _actually_ do something like that.

 

How were Joey and Dawn going to handle the perverse games?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grr, how dare GloZell and Bart vote Joey and Dawn into the perverse games challenge! Well, tomorrow you'll see how Joey, Dawn, and Lele will do with the perverse games, and believe me, after writing that particular chapter, I felt like scrubbing my own brain out. Eck! I will see you all tomorrow. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	6. CHAPTER FIVE: PERVERSE GAMES ANYONE? PART ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! As promised, I'm posting the next chapter and it's time to see how Joey, Dawn, and Lele deal with the perverse games.
> 
> Just so you know, this was originally a single chapter, but I split it into a two-parter due to the original length. Onward!

**CHAPTER FIVE: PERVERSE GAMES ANYONE? PART ONE**

 

*****

 

As Joey, Dawn, and Lele followed Arthur up the stairs to the second floor, where they had been just a few hours ago, although it felt, longer, and they weren’t sure of what they were gong to find, given that this particular challenge had clearly been created by a serial killer. Joey was feeling certain that he knew who had voted him and Dawn into this death challenge, and if he was right, he was going to make them pay since they were probably the same ones who voted for Justine to be buried alive.

 

When they reached the second floor, Arthur lead them to a door. “Ready?” he asked.

 

 _‘No, not in the slightest,'_ Dawn thought, gripping Joey’s arm and she was already dreading whatever was on the other side of that door.

 

Joey and Lele both nodded and the butler opened the door, stepping aside so that they could enter before shutting the door behind them. “Have fun.”

 

*****

 

Whatever Joey, Dawn, and Lele were expecting, it definitely _wasn’t_ seeing a bunch of half-naked mannequins in various compromising positions.

 

“Oh my _gosh_ ,” Dawn moaned, covering her eyes with her hand. “I _so_ don’t need to be seeing this!”

 

“Wow, you really are a pure soul aren’t you,” Lele teased and the brunette responded by sticking her tongue out at her.

 

Joey wasn’t exactly thrilled to be stuck in a room full of half-naked mannequins either, but there they were, and he noticed that there was something on the desk near the windows. “Wait,” he said, pulling Dawn with him and Lele followed. “There’s a clue right here.”

 

Dawn uncovered her eyes and they read the note together. “‘Start the party with a spin of the bottle, and swap spit with your plastic friends. Kiss them enough, and you will get a number from under the door’.”

 

Joey immediately snickered. “I think we're about to have an orgy. With mannequins.”

 

Lele immediately giggled while Dawn clamped both hands over her own mouth. “Oh my!”

 

“I just went to a scary visual place,” Dawn said through her hands, but she was nervously giggling, and her whole face was going red at the same time. “I _so_ just went to a scary visual place.”

 

In the middle of the room, the game was already set up with a male mannequin and three female mannequins sitting in various positions around a glass bottle. They took their places between the mannequins, still giggling nervously in Dawn’s case, and Lele spun the bottle first.

 

It spun twice and then stopped, pointing to a female mannequin, who waslying on the floor with her head leaning up against the wall. She stared at the three humans with a come-hither look on her plastic face.

 

“So you have to kiss her?” Lele asked Joey.

 

Joey snickered and shook his head. “ _You_ have to kiss her!”

 

“ _I_ have to kiss her?” Lele asked and he nodded. Making a face that had her two companions giggling, she moved over to the female mannequin, and paused, still not sure about this, even though it was a pretty funny situation. “I have to, like, _tongue_ kiss it?”

 

“Give her a good ol' kiss,” Joey said encouragingly with a chuckle while Dawn was snickering.

 

Lele shrugged. “Ok.” And she proceeded to kiss the female mannequin, and she was really getting into it, imagining that she was kissing a boy she liked.

 

“Okay, all right, that's enough!” Joey exclaimed.

 

Smirking, Lele went back to her place and Joey took his turn by spinning the bottle, which spun, and when it stopped, it was pointing at her.

 

“Ooh,” Dawn said teasingly and now Joey was looking rather awkward.

 

“I'm not a mannequin, though,” Lele protested. “Did it say that it has to be a mannequin?"

 

Joey shrugged, but he was starting to smile. "I don't know."

 

"Yeah,” Dawn said, and she was still snickering. “It said that. I think."

 

“I  _know_ that’s what it said,” Lele insisted.

 

Now Joey was starting to snicker. "Okay."

 

"Do you want me to read it?" Lele asked, gesturing to the desk where the note was.

 

“ _Someone_ doesn't wanna kiss me!” Joey teased and Dawn was outright laughing by this point.

 

Lele rolled her eyes. “No, I'm just _saying,_ it said a mannequin."

 

"Oh,  _sure,_ ” Joey teased again. “Okay."

 

"No! I'm not kidding!" Lele insisted.

 

“Ok, kids, play nice,” said Dawn, earning two eye rolls. “Hey, someone has to be the adult here.”

 

"That's fine,” said Joey and he reached for the bottle. “I'll spin again.” He then spun the bottle again, and it stopped. This time it was pointing at a dark-haired female mannequin. “Ok, fine,” he said with a sigh, “I’ll kiss _her_.” He went over to her and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. “That was very nice.”

 

Dawn glanced over at the door, hoping to see that something had been slid under it, and sighed when there was nothing there. “Darn, guess I’ll have to take my turn,” she grumbled while Joey returned to his spot on the floor.  _‘Playing a game that I managed to avoid while I was a teen.’_ She spun the bottle and it stopped, pointing at the only male mannequin in the circle.

 

“Lucky girl,” Joey complained without any heat.

 

Dawn rolled her eyes and went to the male mannequin. “Let’s get this over with.” She knelt down and gave him a quick kiss. “There, and now I have the taste of plastic in my mouth. Yuck.”

 

And as if it was on cue, there was a knock and a piece of paper was immediately slid under the door. They quickly left the circle and picked it up to find that it had the number 4 on the front.

 

“What does that mean?” Lele wondered and both Joey and Dawn shrugged, for they had no idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit that I never played the spin the bottle game either when I was a teenager, somehow that wasn't a thing when I was in middle school or in high school, or it's because I live in Utah. Anyway, rather then kill you all with suspense, I will be posting part two shortly. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	7. CHAPTER SIX: PERVERSE GAMES ANYONE? PART TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is part two of the perverse games. I admit that not being able to update the last few days is what's leading to all these postings, so this will be the last one until Tuesday. Onward!

**CHAPTER SIX: PERVERSE GAMES ANYONE? PART TWO**

 

*****

 

Downstairs, while some of the others were still reeling from the fact that GloZell and Bart had been responsible for voting Joey and Dawn into the perverse games challenge with Lele, Matt was leaning back on the white couch that he was sharing with Tim, and he was feeling more comfortable then he had before all this insanity had first started.

 

“If we wanna get out of here and get another artifact, the one person we should sacrifice is Lele,” he said confidently, for he was expecting Dawn and Joey to come back down the stairs with the artifact and _without_ Lele.

 

“You just don't like her," GloZell remarked. "I'll be surprised if she doesn't come back. I'll be really shocked.”

 

 _‘Says the woman who voted Joey into the challenge,’_ Benny thought, and he was upset that this had happen, especially to Dawn, who he was starting to develop feelings for. Not that he was about to say that to anyone in _this_ group, and definitely not with Bart in the room.

 

“Or maybe he _likes_ her,” Tim teased Matt by jokingly poking him with his fingers, and this got some laughs.

 

“Yeah, whatever," Matt said, wriggling away from Tim's fingers. "Stop poking me.”

 

*****

 

Meanwhile in the perverse game room, Joey saw that the paper was actually an envelope, which he opened, and pulled out a note that he immediately read to the girls. “‘Then, one of you must move to the bed and complete the ménage à trois. Count to ten while giving it all you can’.”

 

“What's a ménage à trois?” Lele wondered.

 

Joey felt his face start to go red and poor Dawn was going red again, too. They had been expecting perverted stuff to happen in the room, but this was getting ridiculous. “A threesome.”

 

Lele blinked and glanced over at the bed, where there was a male mannequin with a female mannequin sitting on his lap and facing them. “Ok,” she said, patting Joey on the back. “Good luck.”

 

Joey immediately shook his head and pushed her toward the bed. “That’s all you, girl.”

 

“Why me?” Lele asked, facing him. “Why not Dawn?”

 

“Not in _this_ lifetime!” Dawn immediately protested, her face going even redder then before. “ _No way!_ ”

 

Lele rolled her eyes and went to the two waiting mannequins, but now she had a smile on her face and a mischievous gleam in her brown eyes.

 

“Take your coat off,” Joey suggested.

 

Lele did so and climbed into the lap of the female mannequin, who she began kissing with Joey encouraging her, and she was also caressing the male mannequin’s shoulders at the same time.

 

Both Joey and Dawn did their best not to laugh, but they both ended up dissolving into laugher for several seconds, clinging to each other before they remembered that they had to count to ten. “…Five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten!”

 

Lele quickly yanked herself away from the two mannequins and, with a knock, a second paper was slid under the door, which had the number 7 on it.

 

“Yes!” she cheered while Dawn retrieved the paper, and she turned to Joey with a grin on her face. “Ok, now _you’re_ next!”

 

*****

 

Back downstairs, the topic somehow returned to about why GloZell and Bart chose to vote for Joey and Dawn, and now the two of them were trying to convince the others that Joey and Dawn were behind this whole mess.

 

“It's _their_ house," GloZell said calmly. "They _had_ to know what's going on. So I picked him. Sorry.”

 

“And I picked Dawn for the _exact_ same reason,” Bart agreed, also very calm.

 

“It seems odd," Eva admitted. "Like, why would you invite a bunch of people over here if you didn't know anything about the house?”

 

“That’s a very good point,” Benny agreed. “If either Joey or Dawn knew that were was evil in this house, they more then likely would’ve run out of this place screaming for their lives, and not invite us here for a dinner party.”

 

*****

 

Back in the perverse games room, Dawn opened the envelope to read which task that Joey was suppose to do, and she read it to herself first. “Oh my,” she gasped, her face going redder then before as she began giggling nervously once again.

 

“What? What is it?” Joey asked, reaching for the note, but she shook her head and danced away. “Come on, Donny. What do I have to do?”

 

“Ok, ok,” Dawn said, focusing on the note. “‘Then, find the lone woman leaning on the chair who could use some help from behind. Bang away until the final number appears’.”

 

Joey blinked and then snatched the note from Dawn’s hands as she began giggling helplessly once again. “Bang away until…” he began to read and then he started laughing, jumping, and squealing "No!" at the same time. “No! _No!_ ”

 

“You can do it, Joey,” Lele said, smiling evilly as she pushed him toward the female mannequin that was kneeling on a chair.

 

“I can’t watch,” Dawn moaned, covering her face with her hands. “I’m gonna have to wash my brain out enough as it is.”

 

Wishing that he was doing something else although together, he began _banging_ the mannequin. “Whoo-hoo! Yeah! All righty, cowboy! How long do I have to do this for?” he asked with a pained expression on his face.

 

Lele checked the note and she grinned. “Until the final number appears.”

 

“Come  _on!_ ” Joey groaned, but she just kept grinning and, rolling his eyes, he kept it up until there was a knock, and a third and final paper was slid under the door with the number 2 on it. “Thank _God_.”

 

They moved away from the mannequin and while Dawn retrieved the paper, Joey noticed that there was a lock on the desk. “Wait, there’s a lock here.”

 

“Seriously, we did _all_ of this for _another_ combination?” Dawn asked, wondering just how many of these darn things were in the house, and how many of them they were going to need to solve before they could return to 2016.

 

Joey entered the numbers 4, 7, and 2 into the combination, and removed the lock. Opening the desk, he found a small dark-colored journal, which he took out, and he opened it to the first page. There was a note on it, and he read it to them. “‘This is a murder journal. The persons’ names you write on the next page will both die a horrible death in the next minute. Once their lives has been snuffed out, the artifact will be released. The names should be considered carefully, and once written down, the journal must be placed back in the drawer’.”

 

“Wait, did that say ‘murder journal’?” Dawn asked, getting a _very_ uneasy feeling in her stomach.

 

Joey nodded, also feeling uneasy, and he turned to the next page. There they saw that it was a list of ‘murder victims’, and the first six spaces were filled with names, but both the seventh space and the eighth space were conveniently blank. “We have to write two names on this page, and they will die.”

 

“Oh no, oh no,” Dawn moaned, covering her mouth with her hand for a moment. “We – we have to _kill_ two of our friends?”

 

“It looks like it.”

 

Joey, Dawn, and Lele exchanged uneasy looks. Who were they going to kill if they wrote two names in that book?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, they have to choose two friends to die? I'm SO dreading posting the next chapter on Tuesday. You'll just have to wait until then. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN: TWO WILL DIE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! It's time to see what Joey, Dawn, and Lele will have do know that they know that they will have to write down two names in a murder journal in order to get the third artifact. Onward!

**CHAPTER SEVEN: TWO WILL DIE**

 

*****

 

After playing perverse games, Joey, Lele, and Dawn had gotten the combination to a lock that was on the desk, and when they opened it, they had found a dark-colored book that was known as the murder journal, and now they were having to write in it the names of two of their friends. But if they do that, then those two would die.

 

“We have to decide who has to die?” Dawn asked, feeling sick to her stomach. “I don’t want to kill anyone!”

 

“I don’t want to kill anyone either, Donny,” Joey agreed. “But if we want that artifact, we’ll have to kill two of our friends.” And he hugged her when she moaned unhappily.

 

Lele stared at the murder journal and the page that they would need to write on.  _‘I don’t want to kill anyone either,’_ she thought,  _‘but if means saving me from a_ certain person _…’_ “Joey, Dawn,” she said, and they both looked at her. “I know you're friends with Matt. But…I honestly think Matt should die, and maybe Tim, too.”

 

“Why Tim?” Dawn asked, frowning. “I understand that Matt has it in for you, Lele, but why Tim?”

 

“For what he did to Justine.”

 

Joey and Dawn exchanged a look on that one. Yes, Tim had been the most vocal about wanting Justine dead because of what had happen to Andrea, and that had ended up happening, much to their horror.

 

“Lele, as much as I would like to make Tim pay for that, he can’t die, and neither can Matt,” Joey protested. “Matt helps us.”

 

“He helps- he wants me _dead,_ okay?" Lele insisted. "This is about survival. He wants me dead. So either way, he wants me dead, and he's gonna do whatever it takes to get me dead.”

 

“I don’t want to kill anyone,” Dawn objected. “This isn’t worth it, it really isn’t.”

 

Joey knew that she was right, but they didn’t really have a choice, and they didn’t know how much time they had before the evil decided to kill the three of them. “Listen, both of you,” he said, looking between them, especially Lele, and there was a determined edge to his voice. “After this, I feel like we're _so_ bonded…I will vouch for you, Lele, that you're good. And I'll make sure that Matt _never_ votes for you.”

 

Lele sighed. “All right,” she agreed reluctantly. “Whatever. Got any better ideas?”

 

Joey nodded and picked up a pencil that was on the desk, which he figured they were suppose to use to write down the two names, and he did have two other people in mind. “GloZell and Bart.”

 

“Wait what?” Dawn asked, and even Lele was confused. “Why them?”

 

“Dawn, I will bet _anything_ that they put you and me in this room,” he pointed out. “They want you and I dead.”

 

Dawn opened her moth and then sighed, realizing that he was right. “They _have_ been riding us both,” she agreed, reluctantly. “And Bart has been going after me more so since I refuse to change my political views to fit his.”

 

Lele knew that GloZell and Bart both had been blaming Joey and Dawn since this all started, especially with how Dawn blew up earlier after Justine was buried alive, but she wasn’t sure if they should be the ones to die since she still had her heart set on getting rid of Matt. “Let's spin the bottle-” she began.

 

“No,” Joey said firmly. “I don’t want to. I’m sorry, I’m putting GloZell down.” He then wrote GloZell Green on the page next to the number seven. He then presented the pencil to Dawn. “I think you should write Bart’s name down.”

 

Dawn hesitated for a second and then she took the pencil. “May the Lord forgive us both about what we’re about to do,” she muttered and wasn’t surprise when Lele crossed herself. She then took a deep breath and wrote Bart Walker under GloZell’s name. “There.”

 

Joey shut the murder journal and put it back into the desk with the pencil. “Here we go.”

 

*****

 

Meanwhile, Matt was going on and on, once again, about why he was wanting Lele to not come back, and the others were getting pretty sick of listening to his rant.

 

“…sabotaged. She wouldn't even let me play the game. And guess what? We didn't get the key, Shane got it…”

 

Benny was about to tell Matt to shut up when GloZell and Bart both suddenly started coughing from their spots on the couch. “Uh, you two ok?”

 

GloZell opened her mouth to answer – and _that_ was when the convulsions began. Both she and Bart begin shaking and gagging, like something was trying to force its’ way out of their throats. While Eva and Sierra both screamed, Oli and Benny both reached out to help them.

 

However, GloZell and Bart were immediately yanked away from them, like they’d been pulled off the couch by some invisible hand, and they both writhed on the ground, their chests heaving, and their bodies were locked in a fruitless fight for air.

 

“No!”

 

“Help!”

 

“Somebody  _help!_ ”

 

They could only watch helpless as GloZell and Bart both convulsed, the wig falling off of GloZell’s head, and blood was pouring out of their noses and mouths. Tim did make some comment about them “twerk dying”, Benny hit his shoulder, telling him that this wasn’t the time to make jokes.

 

 _‘Why are they dying?’_ Benny wondered while the others were shouting to help that would never come.  _‘What happen upstairs that could result in_ them  _dying instead of Joey, Dawn, or even Lele?’_

 

*****

 

_`“Help! Somebody help!”`_

 

_`“They’re dying! GloZell and Bart are dying!”`_

 

_`“Help!”`_

 

The trio could hear the screams coming from downstairs and they exchanged horrified expressions.

 

“Joey, what have we done?” Dawn asked, and she was looking like she was going to be _very_ sick and she was also starting to hyperventilate.

 

“Dawn, breathe,” Joey advised, removing one of the mannequins from the chair and got her to sit down in it. “Bend over and breathe, sweetie.” And once she was doing that, he turned to Lele, who was staring at him with a wide-eyed expression on her face. “I don't want them to know that we…put their names in the book.”

 

“Justsay that we unlocked something," Lele suggested. "And then it just said that two of them was gonna die."

 

Joey nodded. "Yeah.”

 

“Joey,” Dawn said, looking up as he turned to kneel next to her. “You – you know that I’m not very good at lying, and it doesn’t feel right to start lying right now.”

 

“I know,” Joey agreed, rubbing her back and hating that she was in this position with him, “but it’s better for everyone if they don’t know the truth. Ok?”

 

“Ok.”

 

*****

 

Downstairs, both GloZell and Bart were fighting to stay alive, but it was clear that the evil of the house was going to win, and it wasn’t long until they both stopped breathing although together. Benny knelt down next to both of them and checked for a pulse.

 

Not finding anything, he looked at the rest of the group. “They’re dead.”

 

*****

 

In the room, a drawer on the desk suddenly popped out, making Joey, Dawn, and Lele all jump and scream. They turned to the desk and inside the drawer was the third artifact, and what appeared to be a ADMIT ONE circus ticket.

 

“Omigod,” Joey muttered, taking the artifact out, and he handed it to Dawn while he also retrieved the ticket. “Holy crap.”

 

“Three down, one to go,” Lele remarked.

 

“Yeah, but what price will we pay next?” Dawn wondered, cradling the artifact in her hands.

 

Joey shrugged. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raise your hands if you guessed that GloZell and Bart would be the ones to get killed off. I'm not big on killing off people in stories, but they both really had it coming, and I will see you all tomorrow. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT: A PAINFUL TRUTH

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, world and welcome back to Escape the Night! It's time for the final chapter of this story, and to deal with the fallout of the deaths of GloZell and Bart. Onward!

**CHAPTER EIGHT: A PAINFUL TRUTH**

 

*****

 

When the door to the perverse game room opened, the trio exited and headed down the stairs to rejoin the others, and Joey made Lele promised _not_ to tell the real truth about what had lead to the deaths of GloZell and Bart.

 

*****

 

It became tough when they entered the living room and they stopped in their tracks when they saw the bodies of GloZell, with her wig lying beside her, and Bart both lying facedown on the floor with pools of blood next to them.

 

“Guys!” Eva screamed, her eyes wide with terror. “GloZell and Bart died!”

 

“It was exactly like what happened with Shane," Oli explained, his mind was trying its best to process the deaths he just witnessed. "They both choked.” _‘How can GloZell and Bart be dead when it was Joey, Lele, and Dawn who were voted into the challenge?’_

 

“But longer,” Tim added.

 

Oli then noticed the artifact that Dawn was holding and he pointed to it. “You guys got the artifact.”

 

“What  _happened?_ ” Sierra asked desperately.

 

“Wait, what happened upstairs with the perverse games?" Matt asked. "What did you guys do?"

 

Dawn shuddered at what they had to do. “You _really_ don’t want to know.”

 

“There were mannequins," Joey answered, also shuddering a little. "We had to do things that I don't…"

 

"Yeah," Lele agreed. "It was perverted. So."

 

Tim, however, was the first to put the pieces together. "No! Look!" He pointed at the artifact. "They got the artifact, so someone else had to die!”

 

“Joey, Dawn, Lele,” Benny said, “you all know that when a challenge is completed, _someone_ has to die, and now both GloZell and Bart are dead.”

 

“You both went upstairs,” Eva added to the Savant and the actress. “And your names were called because GloZell and Bart put you both up there. So GloZell and Bart both died.”

 

Joey and Dawn’s eyes widened with shock. “ _They_ put our names in there?”

 

“Yeah!” Sierra piped up. “They just told us!”

 

“That’s very true,” Matt agreed, eying them suspiciously.

 

“Ok,we were playing spin the bottle and kissing mannequins," Lele snapped, "so I don't think we were focusing on who we wanted to kill!”

 

Matt fixed the blonde with a cold look, having had enough of her. “To be honest with you, I don't want to hear _anything_ that you have to say, because every single time-”

 

“Matt! No! She's good!” Joey and Dawn both insisted.

 

Matt ignored them. “ _Every single time_ she goes to play a game or goes into the hat, _she doesn't die_ _!_ ” he raged.

 

Lele had had _enough_ of Matt trying to blame her for _everything_ , and this was the last straw.  _‘Sorry, Joey, Dawn.’_ “Okay, you know what?” she asked angrily, glaring at her accuser. “Here's the truth, okay? We voted, Joey and Dawn wanted them to die, and that's it.”

 

“ _Lele!_ ” Joey and Dawn both yelped, staring at the blonde with scandalized expressions on their faces.

 

“It's the truth!” Lele snapped. “I _had_ to, Joey! Dawn! I'm tired of him blaming it all on me!”

 

Matt turned to Joey and Dawn, and he pointed to the two bodies. “You both voted for them?”

 

“Matt, there was a journal upstairs,” Dawn informed them, deciding that since Lele had already spilled the beans, not that she really blamed the blonde since even she would’ve snapped after being accused like that, and come to think of it, she _had_ snapped at GloZell earlier. “A – a _murder_ journal, and we – we had to write down two names. And whoever names we wrote down in the journal, they would die.”

 

“And I figured that GloZell and Bart were the ones who voted for us to go into the challenge,” Joey said, taking over on confessing, even though he’d been wanting to avoid doing just this. “And so, Dawn and I wrote down their names in the murder journal, leading to GloZell and Bart dying.”

 

Matt, however, turned to face Lele, positive that this was all her doing. “So you went up there with Joey and Dawn," he sneered, malice dripping like honey from his voice, "and got them killed.”

 

“Actually, it was either _you,_ Tim, or them!" Lele screamed, relishing the astonished look on Matt’s face. "And they saved you and Tim. They saved you, so _shut up and sit down_ _!_ ” And she shoved him onto the couch.

 

“Well, in that case, thanks, guys!” Tim said in a half-hearted attempt to defuse the situation, but it didn’t really work.

 

“Let's just take the artifact,” Joey suggested after taking a deep breath, “let's bring it over there, and let's get the _hell_ out of here.” And he followed Dawn, who was still holding the artifact, over to the mantle to add it to the other two.

 

Dawn set the artifact next to the first two and felt a bit better now that she wasn’t holding the blasted thing anymore. She then turned to the group. “Only one artifact left.”

 

Just then, there was an unearthly roar. It was loud, it was beastly, and it was bone-chilling.

 

Everyone screamed with both Oli and Dawn ducking behind Joey while Tim jumped onto the nearest chair.

 

“What was that?” Joey asked uneasily.

 

“It sounded like an animal!” Eva shrieked.

 

Arthur stepped forward and his expression was grim. “The evil of this house knows someone is trying to imprison it,” he announced. “It's unleashed its guardian to make sure that doesn't happen.”

 

“What guardian?” Joey and Dawn asked at the same time, and they both immediately wished that they hadn’t asked.

 

*****

 

In a hidden location on the property, a bald and brown-skinned man with a number of white horns growing out of his head, had only pants and boots on, and he was chained in the middle of the room. He raised his head to reveal that he had only one dark eye while the other was covered with scar tissue, and he let out another loud roar as he yanked at the chains.

 

He wanted to be freed, _and_ he wanted to tear someone or something apart.

 

To Be Continued…

 

*****

 

_I have so many, so many regrets._

_So many lies, so many broken ties._

_I wish for my old life._

_Wish I could fix my strike._

_Cause no one truly escapes the night._

_Oh, won't you help me escape the night._

_Oh baby help me escape the night._

_Escape the night._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RIP GloZell and Bart…well you both kinda had it coming, but still, enjoy being stuck in the World Between Worlds for however long it'll take to bring you both back. And I don't like the looks of that Guardian fellow. I will see you all on Friday with the next episode. Bye for now! R&R everyone!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, anyone else seriously creeped out the serial killer? I know I am! I will see you all tomorrow for the first chapter. Bye for now! R&R everyone!


End file.
